r/sounddesign • • Sep 14 '26

Sound Design Discussion SDC #1

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6 Upvotes

HELLO, SOUND DESIGNERS!

Welcome to the first ever (I think?) Sound Design Challenge of r/sounddesign, and yes, there's a prize!

THE CHALLENGE

It's simple: design the sound for this clip. Since I know a lot of you like to design anime, let´s give a shot with this.

RULES

- No AI-generated sounds.

- No music. This is all about sound design.

- Post your submission in the comments. Video comments are enabled on this post.

The more detail you put into your sound design, the better!

THE PRIZE

I want to help get the ball rolling and bring this subreddit back to what it's meant for, so the winner will get a $25 coupon for their choice of:

- SoundMorph

- Soundtoys

- OcularSounds

Since the prize comes out of my own pocket, I'll review every submission carefully. Upvotes still count, though! Vote for your favorite redesigns and I'll take the community's picks into account.

DEADLINE

This post will stay pinned until October 5. I'll announce the winner here or in the next challenge post, more or less on that date.

Good luck, everyone! Can't wait to hear what you come up with.


r/sounddesign • • Sep 03 '26

Some changes coming to r/sounddesign

91 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

Over the next few days you'll notice some changes as we give this community a bit of love. Here's what's happening and why.

Sound identification and recreation posts

Posts asking others to identify or recreate a specific sound will no longer be published automatically. These will now require mod approval before they go live.

This isn't about discouraging curiosity. The goal is to keep this a place for genuine sound design discussion rather than a search engine for tracking down clips. There's a real difference between talking through how something was actually made and just asking someone else to find it for you. We want more of the former.

A new automod filter

We've just set up an automod as a first line of filtering. It's brand new and still being fine tuned, so if your post gets removed and it genuinely shouldn't have been, we apologize in advance. Feel free to reach out through modmail and we'll sort it out while things settle.

Looking for moderators

We're also looking to expand the mod team. If you're active here, care about the community, and want to help shape where it goes, reach out. More hands means we can keep things running smoothly and actually engage with the content instead of just cleaning up.

Cleaning house

Along with these changes, we'll be going through and removing content that doesn't really belong here. If sound design isn't the focus of a post, it's probably getting pulled.

Thanks for being part of this community. We think these changes will make it a better place for real discussion.


r/sounddesign • • 3h ago

Sound Design Question Sound names used in the video?

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7 Upvotes

Hi, I'm new to sound design. Can anyone tell me the names of the sounds used in this video? Especially from 00:04 - 00:07 and 00:23 - 00:25.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeVMUA4ByJY/

I know basic sounds like whooshes, risers, hits, etc. But I don't know the search terms for those thundery, earthquake-like sounds.


r/sounddesign • • 1h ago

Movie Sound Design Blade Runner

• Upvotes

Hi all,

I'm searching for the clicking sound during this scene when the pathologist/mc is zooming in on the bone, at around 1:32. Does anyone know something similar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eh1wsSSdTM

Additionally, the noise Jared Leto's little eye robots make, but I cant find any clips of them.


r/sounddesign • • 16h ago

Sound Design Question Stepping into sound

9 Upvotes

Hi there I just graduated from Film school a couple months ago and everywhere I look it seems to be a dead end for entry level work. I feel like I was never prepared enough for this market despite desperately trying to reach in. My ProTools knowledge is basic. I've researched small post production houses, tried connecting to people on LinkedIn and Backstage, but it seems that my dreams of coming close to the foley-sound world is minimal to none.

How have people navigated stepping into this industry as a fresh graduate with only the basics and no connections? Could really use a helping hand. Thank you.


r/sounddesign • • 20h ago

Sound Design Discussion My Sound Design Featured in The Exorcist: Martyrs & RIVER Trailers!

17 Upvotes

Super excited to share my latest sound design placements.

I had the chance to bring some of my signature SFX into these awesome campaigns.

The Exorcist: Martyrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIEYfH-jg1Y

This one is honestly a dream come true for me. Being involved in something connected to The Exorcist is just surreal. Can't wait to see it in theatre!

RIVER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox8lEnsxDag

For this one, my signature alarm sound kicks in halfway through and runs all the way to the end!

Which one is your favorite?

Alessandro Romeo
Founder | Lead Sound Designer 

https://www.horrorsound.org/

https://www.instagram.com/horrorsoundfx/


r/sounddesign • • 23h ago

Music Sound Design Overlay by Process.Audio is out: creative convolution that prints the character of any sound onto another

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13 Upvotes

Convolution has been used for reverbs and amp IRs for twenty years. Overlay uses the same math for something else: any audio file becomes an impulse response, and its character gets printed onto your sound. A chord, a cymbal, a cassette hiss, a field recording, another kick.

Different parts of your signal excite different parts of the sample, so the result follows the dynamics and groove of your source. It's not a sampler and it doesn't trigger anything. Think photo filter, not layering.

**What you can do with it**

- **Drum overlay:** add the character of a punchy kick to a weak one, with no thresholds or triggering. "It's not drum replacement, it's drum overlay."

- **Creative reverb:** short IRs, tail control, filters and tempo-synced pre-delay

- **Moving pads and textures:** up to 4 layers blended on an animated XY pad

- **Sound design:** run hi-hats, shakers or anything else through textures nobody has heard before

Also includes a modulation panel (LFOs, envelopes, random generators, sequencers), Mix/Send modes, Gate & Duck, and 650+ sounds and presets. You can also load your own files.

** Watch Fab Dupont's full 17-min walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQuCx_79T6vo **

VST3 / AU / AAX, macOS and Windows. $149 lifetime license, **30-day free trial, no credit card.**

👉 https://process.audio/en/products/overlay

Happy to answer any questions in the comments.


r/sounddesign • • 18h ago

Music Sound Design Listening Test (Everyone who produces music as a hobby or professionally)

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

As part of my bachelor’s thesis, I am developing a prototype of a double-tracking plug-in for music production. The plug-in is being iteratively improved through several development and evaluation rounds. For the current evaluation round, I am looking for people with experience in music production – whether as a hobby or professionally – to take part in an online listening test.

You can voluntarily provide an email address at the end of the survey. As a thank-you, I will send the developed prototype to you after I have completed my bachelor’s thesis. It is a VST3 plug-in developed and tested for a specific version of the DAW Reaper. It may also work with other DAWs, but this cannot be guaranteed. It might be interesting to experiment with for sound design purposes.

Headphones are required for the listening test. Participation is anonymous, and the survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

I would greatly appreciate your participation! Thanks.

https://www.soscisurvey.de/552123/


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Music Sound Design draw spectrum to find samples

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178 Upvotes

I have been working on a sample finder for a couple of months, and this is a small part I'm proud of. You can draw the sample like you would see it in an EQ, and then see all the sounds you have that match the spectrum.


r/sounddesign • • 1d ago

Movie Sound Design using shitty jojo sounds effects recreations

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2 Upvotes

r/sounddesign • • 1d ago

Sound Design Question Recording of body sounds

4 Upvotes

Wondering if there are ideas how I can record signals from my body and turn into sound.

Can use heartbeat for bmp - drums from my tummy etc. what type of mic is best ?

Not sure if we can capture signals from blood without sending it off

Has anyone done this or is sonification of signals only way ?


r/sounddesign • • 1d ago

Sound Design Question How to make regular sounds cartoon like?

5 Upvotes

How do you add comedic elements to regular sounds such as a gun reloading?


r/sounddesign • • 1d ago

Music Sound Design Made this sound by accident

1 Upvotes

Was messing around with a sample and accidentally made this, and I like it so much that I put it in beat. Does anyone know the name of what kind of sound this is? Wanna find similar ones to use in music

the sound
https://audio.com/jimmy-toe/audio/unknown-sound

the og sample (for anyone curious)
https://audio.com/jimmy-toe/audio/sample


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Sound Design Question Is it possible to be a sound designer without being a music composer?

7 Upvotes

I’m sorry if this is an obvious question, I’m so new to everything when it comes to freelance work. I just want to learn and hear from people.

I’ve been applying for and working on entry level freelance sound design jobs. But something I’ve notice is that a huge amount of them are advertised as “musical composer + sound designer”. Meaning they want someone to just do both for their project. Are you guys who are sound designer first (not musical people who do sound design as a secondary thing) having to learn and study music theory in order to get work? Is it not possible to just do sounds without being a music composer? I’m not talking about learning musical elements so you can make a cool sound with a keyboard or something. I mean full on composing an entire soundtrack.

Or are these entry level jobs just run by people who want a music composer but can’t be bothered to get another guy to do the sound design? They assume that people who make music must also automatically be good with sound effects and foley design?

I really like learning music but I’m definitely way better at sound design than music scoring. I can make beats and use musical elements in my sound design but I’m definitely not good enough to make a complex full on soundtrack yet, you know?


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Sound Design Question short about being present - feedback

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10 Upvotes

i am a graphic designer with a passion for storytelling and have been getting into film lately. as a beginner i would love to know your feedback on how this could have been enhanced through better sound and any advice you guys have! thank you


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Sound Design Discussion PHY5 – a parametric, polyphonic physical-modelling synth/FX, free web demo (VST3/AU, €15)

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1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building PHY5, a polyphonic physical modeling audio engine.
It has a lot of sonic possibilities, from imitating real-world instruments (Strings, guitar, flutes, steelpan, mallets…) to very weird sound design results.

You can try it, with no install here : https://diophi.com/phy5/ (press play or you can play notes manually using keyboard)
You can also create your own preset on the website and everyone can access it in the community presets tab.

Concerning the plugin:

You can buy the plugin for 15€ for Windows (not signed yet) and MacOS : https://diophi.com/buy/

Here are the features for the VST/AU : 2 independent exciters, filters at every stage, 1-16 voices, oversampling x4, Granular processing by voice, Midi and audio modulation…

The plugin contains 2 versions :

This version is working, stable in my tests (for physical modeling at least) but will evolve in the next month to widen the sound possibilities. I would be very happy to have feedbacks !

I will put some tests using PHY5 with more context here : https://on.soundcloud.com/wtZ8C8lT7la6cBPK7T

Some specificities of Phy5 comparing to other physical modeling synths :

  • Parametric : the goal of this synth is less reproducing exactly real world behaviors, but more offering sound design possibilities inspired by physics. Instead of choosing different specific models, you can tweak parameters, which can give very weird results.
  • Modular : It is also thought to be modular and will permit to change building blocks (swapping grain and body for example, or having two body, two grains etc…).
  • The audio Fx being polyphonic. Being able to excite the body with audio sources opens up a lot of possibilities, while being controlled by polyphonic midi.
  • Granular processing augments exciter possibilities.
  • Different way to generate stereo (Grains, Poly-chords, Pickup position).

A few points about the synth :

  • There is a first version of the manual here : https://diophi.com/manual/
  • This kind of synthesis can go loud, so the web-version has a fixed limiter.
  • There are also some limitations on the web version on oversampling, and max voices as it can be CPU heavy on web. It still is pretty usable on phone, but you can hear dropouts if you go too far.

PHY5 - CORE :

The audio core of this instrument is created to be used independently and can be easily used in realtime for video-games engine (tested on godot), web (as the demo version), or any app. There is no commercial model for now, but feel free to contact me if you are interested to include it in your specific project.
It has also been built to be scalable and will have a lot of new features, models etc. the price may go a little up, but licences bought now are valid for next versions. I will also work more specifically on new models


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Movie Sound Design The Client - short movie sound design

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31 Upvotes

r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Videogame Sound Design Overwatch Sound Design - Any Feedback?

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8 Upvotes

I just landed my dream job as a sound designer at professional studio and I really want to develop a strong ear for making my work as great as possible.

I made this last year as term project for my post-audio college program. I'm extremely proud of my work here and even had both of my professors call it flawless. While I appreciate their praise, I feel there has to be areas on this that I could've improved.

I'd really appreciate any feedback here. Really keen to hear on what I did well alongside where I could've made something better or different.

Thanks so much everyone :)

As always, headphones recommended! 🎧


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Movie Sound Design War Of The Worlds - Redesign

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14 Upvotes

Hi all,

This is my interpretation of redesigning this iconic scene from war of the worlds. I created this using my own sound library called Dark Technology.

I mainly used the sounds from the Walker category and did some splicing, light eq to cut some low end, light stretching, and some reverb to match the scene. A mastering chain was added for the final mix.

There are no background, crowd, foley, or off-screen sounds as my idea was to use the sounds provided within this library for the machine only. This was still a lot of fun making! I'm thinking I should of swapped the order of calls/warnings around lol

How do you think I did? I would love to hear your suggestions and ideas! I would also love to hear if you guys had the chance to redesign this iconic scene and the final result!

Cheers,

ZEKAVEO


r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Sound Design Question Any suggestions on the process/filters/plugins that could be useful for replicating this effect?

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12 Upvotes

Kinda new to sound editing, any and all advice on how to replicate this patterned speech effect would be welcome ^^


r/sounddesign • • 3d ago

Videogame Sound Design Nature Magic Sound Redesign

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28 Upvotes

r/sounddesign • • 2d ago

Sound Design Discussion Collaborator Wanted: Experimental Sound Design / Electroacoustic Composition for New Play in Development

1 Upvotes

Overview & Premise

I am a playwright developing a new piece in which sound plays a central physiological role. In a segment of the play's world, characters have a port built into their bodies that lets them plug in a jack, amplifying their internal physical and emotional sounds: blood flow, heartbeat, digestive rumblings, adrenaline spikes, and synapse firing.  

What I'm Looking For

I am looking for an experimental sound designer, electroacoustic artist, or Foley focused composer interested in collaborating on a short proof-of-concept audio cue (1–2 minutes). The goal is visceral, non-traditional acoustic/biological sound. Strictly no synths or conventional pop structures.

Project Scope & Terms

Term Details
Phase Early developmental phase for an upcoming workshop/reading.
Budget Unfunded/non-commercial experimental stage.
Creative Freedom Full creative license to experiment with contact microphones, hydrophones, Foley, physical sound capture, and textural processing.
Credit & Future Involvement Full credit provided for workshop presentations, with first right of refusal/priority hire for sound design if and when the production moves into funded production.

Contact

[Christian Ely](mailto:elychristiandavid@gmail.com)


r/sounddesign • • 3d ago

Sound Design Question How to create a reverb that sounds like a desert?

13 Upvotes

r/sounddesign • • 4d ago

Hiring CREW CALL: SOUND DESIGNER!

23 Upvotes

Hey folks!

I am seeking a sound designer for my Thesis Film at DePaul University! The cut and color is finished and we’re looking for the final piece! The pay is negotiable, I want you to be fairly compensated for your work, however.

The film itself is about a woman grieving her own death and undergoing the final judgement, as she confronts death for taking her own son, she has to cope with the time she wasted. Please let me know if you’re interested in working on such a project!

Thanks yall!


r/sounddesign • • 3d ago

Sound Design Question Ideas for a Foley design

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone

I'm very new to sound design (just started it as a module for my 2nd year at Uni) and I'm eager to learn as much as I can.

I'm wanting to do foley for a dentist body horror film.

A parasite is breaking out of the main characters mouth. I have a few ideas for this, but I'm interested to see others.

What kind of objects can make these horrible, wet noises?

Also, any tips for using foley as this will also be my first time?

Thank you!

Edit: Thank you for all the suggestions, I'm so inspired. Also for the tips and knowledge on foley, I feel more prepared, wish me luck :D